We advise individuals and corporations on applications to the European Court of Human Rights, Human Rights Committee, Committee against Torture, Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, including regarding exhaustion of domestic remedies. We also represent parties to the proceedings before these treaty bodies and the ECHR, and we take part in the ensuing enforcement proceedings at the domestic level.

We also conduct research and training on international human rights law.

Representative matters

European Court of Human Rights

Representing an applicant in a case concerning inadequate medical assistance in the pre-trial detention centre. Interim measures were obtained; client was released by the order of the St. Petersburg City Court; the Court decided that the prohibition on inhuman treatment had been breached.

Preparing an application in the case concerning violation of the right to property and right to fair trial in connection with the invalidation of an investment contract between the client and a Russian state agency with respect toa real estate development.

Advice regarding application to court in connection with the alleged infringements of the right to fair trial in the framework of a complex dispute before a foreign court.

Advice regarding Russia’s compliance with international obligations in rendering decisions on deportation and extradition.

Committees and other United Nations bodies

Representing an individual who was faced with deportation from Russia, before the Human Rights Committee. Russian Federal Migration Service decided not to deport the client. Human Rights Committee found that Russia had violated the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the case.

Drafting an urgent submission to the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. Involuntary labor of the client in a Russian correctional facility has ceased, and conditions of her detention ameliorated.

Representing a group of individuals before the Committee against Torture in a case about their extradition to a country where there was real risk of them being subjected to torture. The Committee unanimously found that extradition had violated international law.

Expert opinions

Preparing an expert opinion on compliance with the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights in the Russian penitentiary system for the Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Drafting a “shadow report” for the leading non-governmental human rights organisation of St. Petersburg for the submission to a UN human rights treaty body, relevant lobbying in Geneva.